Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, is pushing for a national strategy to achieve food sovereignty in Nigeria. At the 2025 World Food Day celebration, he argued that widespread hunger persists despite Nigeria’s agricultural potential because the nation over-relies on imported food and fails to adequately support its livestock sector. Bago believes that true self-sufficiency can be realized through increased investment in cattle, pastures, and value chains, alongside efforts to reduce post-harvest losses.
The Governor proposed five core action points for the national agenda: adopting modern, climate-smart farming; minimizing post-harvest losses with improved storage; ensuring credit and resources reach genuine farmers; securing farms and rural areas from insecurity; and basing agricultural policy on long-term national planning.
Bago confirmed that such successes are achievable, pointing to the past restriction of poultry imports which caused local production to surge. He also highlighted Niger State’s commitment through investments in mechanization, irrigation, and value chain development. Furthermore, he noted his state’s collaboration with the World Bank to tackle farm flooding by building climate defenses and implementing early warning systems. The Governor concluded by stressing that collective effort is necessary to lead the national agricultural transformation.
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